Establishing the Discipline of Classical Philology in Nineteenth-century Greece

Abstract

This paper outlines the process of establishing the discipline of classical philology in Greece in the nineteenth century. During the period shortly before the Greek War of Independence, beyond the unique philological expertise of Adamantios Korais, there is additional evidence of the existence of a fledging academic discussion among younger scholars. A younger generation of scholars engaged in new methodological quests in the context of the German school of Alterthumswissenschaft. The urgent priorities of the new state and the fluidity of scholarly fields, as well as the close association of Greek philology with ideology, were some of the factors that determined the “Greek” study of antiquity during the first decades of the Greek state. The rise of classical philology as an organized discipline during the nineteenth century in Greece constitutes a process closely associated with the conditions under which the new state was constructed. This paper will touch upon the conditions created for the development of the discipline shortly before the Greek War of Independence, as well as on the factors that determined its course during the first decades of the Greek State.1 Although how to precisely define classical philology as an organized discipline is subject to debate, our basic frame of reference will be the period’s most advanced “school of philology”, the German school. According to one definition that can be deduced from an examination of this very school, the study of ancient literature began to be considered an organized “scientific” discipline from the moment the legitimization of its practitioners exceeded the boundaries of the act of teaching and no longer depended on the effect of their work upon a broad audience but rather on a specialized group of people.2 This turn towards Greek studies was a Pan-European phenomenon, which has been associated with the increasing power of the European middle 1 This text is part of my broader research into the creation of the discipline of classical philology and its progress during the nineteenth century in the context of the new Greek state. 2 Suzanne L. Marchand, Down from Olympus: Archaeology and Philhellenism in Germany, 1750-1970, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996, p. 23. The data that define the substance of this discipline in the context of Greece constitute a basic objective of my research. The Historical Review / La Revue Historique Institute for Neohellenic Research Volume VIII (2011) http://epublishing.ekt.gr | e-Publisher: EKT | Downloaded at 06/11/2018 14:59:59 | 118 Sophia Matthaiou class. In some instances, a classical education became the distinguishing characteristic of a rising urban class (England), while, in others, the vehicle that led to national integration (Germany).3 The European investment in Greek studies, combined with the birth of classicism, is, moreover, linked with the “emergence” of Greece in European thinking,4 as well as with the phenomenon of philhellenism.5 The European equation of the ancient Greek past with the supreme civilization in the history of humanity made a catalytic contribution to the very creation of the Greek nation-state. Consequently, the factors defining the “Greek” study of antiquity naturally differed from those of the Europeans. We know that Greek scholars studied the ancient writers throughout the entire Ottoman occupation, while the connection of the nation’s literate inhabitants with ancient literature was never severed, since, in conjunction with ecclesiastical literature, it formed the basis of any type of general education during the period.6 3 Christopher Stray, Classics Transformed: Schools, Universities and Society in England, 1830-1960, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998, pp. 7-113; Marchand, Down from Olympus, pp. 3-35. 4 Nassia Giakovaki, Ευρώπη μέσω Eλλάδας. Mια καμπή στην ευρωπαϊκή αυτοσυνείδηση, 17ος-18ος αιώνας [Europe via Greece: a watershed in European self-consciousness, seventeenth–eighteenth century], Athens 2006. Regarding the intellectual fermentation in French intellectual circles, see Georges Tolias, La médaille et la rouille. Image de la Grèce moderne dans la presse littéraire parisienne (1794-1815), Athens: Hatier-Kaufman, 1997. 5 Loukia Droulia, “� �������������. ����������� ��� ������������ ������” [Phillhellinism: a liberal and radical movement], in Vassilis Panayotopoulos (ed.), Ιστορία του Νέου Ελληνισμού, 1770-2000 [Modern Greek history, 1770-2000], Athens 2003, Vol. II, pp. 267286, contains the basic bibliography. 6 Ioannis Kalitsounakis, “H ���β�ω��� �ω� �������ώ� ���υδώ� �� E��άδ� ��� ��� �����υ���ώ��ω� ��� ��������” [The revival of classical studies in Greece since the liberation], Eπιστημονική Eπετηρίς της Φιλοσοφικής Σχολής του Πανεπιστημίου Aθηνών VIII (1957-1958), pp. 325-339; C. Th. Dimaras, “Η ����υ��� ��� ��χ���� ���δ���� �έ�� ���� ����������ή �υ���δ��� (1750-1850)” [The presence of ancient culture in the Modern Greek conscience (1750-1850)], Απόψεις VII (1995), pp. 3-11; Angeliki G. Skarveli-Nikolopoulou, Μαθηματάρια των ελληνικών σχολείων της Τουρκοκρατίας. Διδασκόμενα κείμενα, σχολικά προγράμματα, διδακτικές μέθοδοι. Συμβολή στην ιστορία της νεοελληνικής παιδείας [Greek handwritten school books during the Ottoman occupation: texts taught, school programmes, teaching methods: a contribution to the history of Modern Greek education], Athens 1994; Eleni Karantzola, “A�� ��� Oυ������� ���� Δ���ω�����. H δ�δ������� ��� ��χ���� �������ή� ��� ��� γ��������ή� ���” [From Humanism to the Enlightenment: the teaching of Ancient Greek and its grammar], in A.-F. Christidis (ed.), Iστορία της ελληνικής γλώσσας. Aπό τις αρχές έως την ύστερη αρχαιότητα [The history of the Greek language: from its beginnings to late antiquity], Thessaloniki: Centre for the Greek Language, 2001, pp. 931-934. See also http://epublishing.ekt.gr | e-Publisher: EKT | Downloaded at 06/11/2018 14:59:59 | Classical Philology in Nineteenth-century Greece 119 In Europe, around the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth, and after a fertile three-century period, the systematic features of the discipline of classical philology were finalized in the context of the German school of Alterthumswissenschaft, the science or study of antiquity as practised in Halle and, later, at the University of Berlin. Friedrich August Wolf introduced, and, subsequently, August Böckh imposed the concept that classical philology should examine the full range of the activities of the ancient Greeks and Romans, assigning an explicit historical dimension to its subject matter. This trend dominated German philological studies for quite some time. The singular influence exercised specifically by Böckh, who was the first to use ancient Greek inscriptions as an essential source for his research into antiquity, expanded the horizons of philology in the whole of Europe. However, at the same time, it was only natural that classical scholars should have carried on the older tradition of emending and interpreting the classical texts, a tradition associated with classical scholarship in the Netherlands and England. As an adherent of this original school, it was understandable that Gottfried Hermann of Leipzig would oppose Böckh.7 The birth of the contemporary German school of Alterthumswissenschaft is, moreover, associated with the work of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, the father of classicism, aesthetics, and, by extension, the discipline of archaeology.8 Athanasia K. Avdali, Η “’Εγκυκλοπαιδεία Φιλολογική’’ του Ιωάννη Πατούσα. Συμβολή στην ιστορία της Παιδείας του Νέου Ελληνισμού (1710-1839) [The “Philological encyclopaedia” of Ioannis Patousas: a contribution to the history of Modern Greek education (1710-1839)], Athens 1984. On the absence of Plato’s texts, see Alkis Angelou, Πλάτωνος Τύχαι (Η λόγια παράδοση στην τουρκοκρατία) [The fortunes of Plato (scholarly tradition during the Ottoman occupation)], Athens 1963. On the Greeks’ relationship with ancient history, see C. Th. Dimaras, Νεοελληνικός Διαφωτισμός [Modern Greek Enlightenment], Athens 1977, pp. 5558; Paschalis M. Kitromilides, Νεοελληνικός Διαφωτισμός. Οι πολιτικές και κοινωνικές ιδέες [Modern Greek Enlightenment: political and social ideas], Athens 1996, pp. 83-113, and Dimitris I. Kyrtatas, Kατακτώντας την αρχαιότητα. Iστοριογραφικές διαδρομές [Conquering antiquity: itineraries of historiography], Athens 2002, pp. 98-109. 7 U. von Wilamowitz-Möllendorf, History of Classical Scholarship, London: Duckworth, 1982, pp. 105-137; John Edwin Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship, Vol. III, New York 1964, pp. 48-211; Rudolf Pfeiffer, Iστορία της κλασσικής φιλολογίας από το 1300 μέχρι το 1850 [History of classical philology from 1300 to 1850], Athens 1980, pp. 193-209. Regarding Böckh, see also Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Munich and Leipzig 1875-1912, Vol. II, pp. 770-783, and Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Archäologenbildnisse. Porträts und Kurzbiographien von Klassischen Archäologen deutscher Sprache, Mainz 1988, pp. 5-7. 8 Wilamowitz-Möllendorf, History of Classical Scholarship, pp. 95-100; Marchand, Down from Olympus, pp. 3-16. The shift in classical scholarship is also linked to the http://epublishing.ekt.gr | e-Publisher: EKT | Downloaded at 06/11/2018 14:59:59 | 120 Sophia Matthaiou The Appearance of “Scientific” Elements During this period, which gave birth to the humanities in Germany, a good many Greek scholars lived in Europe, with some members of the younger generation attending European universities. We know that one of the basic objectives of the Enlightenment ideology of the period before the Greek War of Independence was to acquaint Greeks fundamentally with the classical writers of antiquity, primarily through education, an objective associated with the ongoing cultivation of national self-awareness.9 Adamantios Korais personified this trend in the most characteristic fashion: a self-taught and charismat